OSCAR Wilde's
trivial comedy for
serious people has
been delighting audiences since 1895 and, incidentally, yours truly for
half a century.

So reviewing it is rather seeing how well an old
friend is doing, whether in rude health and spritely or looking a little
tired and in need of a glass or two of Wincarnis; this Middle Ground
production is fizzing like a bottle of pop as Jim an ancient Post & Mail
messenger used to say.

It sparkles and crackles with life managing to
appear as fresh as a just picked buttonhole and very much a
contemporary play which is in part due to Wilde's beautifully crafted
script and partly due to Michael Lunney's clever direction and design.

Not that that should be a surprise. As a young
man my late father would never miss any film that featured Jimmy Cagney.
He was a little put out with A Midsummer Night's Dream mind you
but in general he knew just what he was going to get.

Miss Prism, Ce

cily,
Algernon, Lady Bracknell, Earnest, Gwendolen and the Rev Chasuble discover
the importance of being Earnest

I feel the same way about Middle Ground. You know
what you are going to get and every so often they come up with a vintage
production such as On Golden Pond or a particular favourite of
mine Frankie & Johnny in the Claire de Lune. This is another
memorable production with the wit and one liners delivered with razor
sharpness in a perfoamnce which has developed a comfortable rhythm.

Diane Fletcher is a delight as Lady Bracknell,
super snob and super schemer and no doubt a 19th century
ancestor of Hyacinth Bouquet, slipping in one liners and put downs with
the practised skill of a society guardian and defender.

Then there is her nephew Algernon, played with a
self-centred splendid shallowness by Jim Alexander and his friend
Ernest, or John, or is it Jack who is the offspring of a marriage
between a left luggage office at Victoria Station (Brighton line)and a
handbag.

He despairs at Algy's hedonism and deception with
an imaginary friend, the sickly Bunbury, who has to be visited whenever
Algernon wishes to avoid supper with his Aunt or fancies a jaunt in the
country.

Mind you Earnest is less than forthcoming about
his own arrangements with one life on his country estate with his ward
Cecily, played with determined innocence by the splendidly named
Sapphire Elia, and another life in London where he is fatally smitten by
Gwendolen , daughter of Lady Bracknell and cousin of Algy.

Beautifully played by Corrinne Wicks, Gwendolen
has the problem of finding even a hint of independence under the
daunting burden of being the daughter of the battleaxe that was Lady
Bracknell along with he added task of making sure than she would end up
married to Earnest whatever her mother, or indeed Earnest felt about it.

On Earnest's estate is Miss Prism, governess to
Cecily, prim and properly played by Sarah Thomas, who holds the terrible
secret which affects the lives of everyone who counts - in Lady
Bracknell's world servants and churchmen below the rank of Bishop
obviously don't count.

VAGUELY PLAYED

The churchman in this case being the Rev Canon
Chasuble, unworldly and quite vaguely played by David Gooderson, who has
the ecclesiastical hots for Miss Prism – the Rev that is . . .not Mr
Gooderson – while the servant is Rugeley actor Gerry Hinks who is no
stranger to the Garrick having produced and acted in his own plays
there.

Hinks starts off as Lane, the London butler of
Algernon, who is very traditional, up market manservant with his own
line in caustic comments.

He then reappears as Merriman the ancient and
very shaky family retainer at Earnest/John/Jack's Hertfordshire estate.
Permanently wearing gloves, to perhaps hide some terrible skin disease
or to keep out the chill, Merriman lets his feelings be known as he
mutters his way around the stage in a wonderfully studied performance.
His tea pouring is a frightening experience for anyone within shaking
distance.

This is about the third Earnest I have seen in
the past 18 months or so and although all were good this was perhaps the
most enjoyable. It is light, well-paced and when Algy and Earnest find
themselves fighting for their (love) lives it is like grown up school
chums, a sort of up market William and Ginger on a great adventure while
Gwendolen and Cecily plot and scheme not so much against them but to
ensnare them beyond any hope of escape, a task made easier by Algy and
Earnest's schoolboy level ploys.

The sets are simple, solid and effective and with
such a strong cast this is Wilde at his witty best, a delight from
beginning to end. To 20-10-12.